So, let’s sum up the White House’s thinking on how to salvage the Florida Senate race, five days before the election. They had a choice between:
- The guy who is a former state trooper, former state Democratic legislator, four-term Democratic Congressman, and the duly-chosen Democratic nominee for FL-SEN black; and
- The guy who is a long-term Republican legislator and current governor of Florida who has shamelessly switched positions on every single ideological and/or political stance that might get him more votes white.
Which one do you think that they picked?
That’s right, they went with the white dude: they sent former President Clinton to try to get Kendrick Meek to drop out of the race, and apparently almost succeeded. Sure, the White House is claiming to not know anything about any of this – but then, they would. Alas, that argument doesn’t pass the smell test. The message was sent using Bill Clinton – and Clinton’s own people are confirming, on the record, that he was actively working to get Meek to drop – and that just doesn’t happen unless it’s cleared at the top. The very top*.
It’s backfired, of course: Kendrick Meek is insisting that he’s staying in, and, well, it’s the weekend before the election. This had every hallmark of being a desperation play cobbled together from a previous desperation play; I know that it’s conventional wisdom that Crist would be sure to beat Marco Rubio if only it weren’t for that meddlesome African-American, but… well. Crist is just an awful candidate, and Rubio is not.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
*You know, Charlie Crist looks a lot like a beaten dog, here. BUT NOT ONE THAT HAS BEEN BEATEN ENOUGH.